Leila Davis
Foreign Friends’ wines are, as the name suggests, a celebration of friendship – not just friendship in general, but more specifically the friendship that blossomed after an Australian pair of sisters, Crystal and Leila Davis, met the French Juliette Menneteau in Beechworth in 2016. The trio’s collaborative label, founded in 2023, draws on each of their strengths: Leila’s as a winemaker (she currently works for Sentiō and Sorrenberg), Crystal’s as a marketer (her day job is in advertising), and Menneteau’s in wine distribution and sales (she currently works as sales and marketing manager for Australian wine importer and distributor World Wine Estates). Crafting a tight range of six wines – three whites made from savagnin, pinot blanc, and chardonnay respectively, plus a rosé from nebbiolo and reds from gamay and barbera – delivered in whip-smart packaging, Foreign Friends presents a vibrant, youthful, and approachable take on contemporary Australian wine. But don’t let the branding fool you – behind the laid-back odes to good times are three driven, ambitious women who are working hard to raise the profile of women in wine.